Tuesday, May 20, 2003

In brief, the Acehnese want independence (or genuine autonomy) while the Indonesians are only offering autonomy (on their terms) + 70% of the area's natural gas revenues in return for disarmament, and so far neither side has shown much willingness to live up to the conditions of the Cessation of Hostilities Agreement reached last December...

Unlike East Timor the Aceh province was not illegally seized following independence from the Dutch in 1945 (although there has been an independence campaign for 26 years) and the international community has consequently been extremely reluctant to challenge the behaviour of Indonesian government... in part due to concern over what the break-up of Indonesia, including independence for West Papua and Aceh, might mean for neighbouring countries but perhaps also due to the West being prepared to accept the suppression of various Islamic areas within Indonesia (whether or not they are an external threat) following the Bali bombing...

Previous statements from Amnesty International suggest that the behaviour of the military hasn't been any better in East Timor or West Papua and that there are therefore very good reasons to be concerned about what might be about to happen in Aceh...

See this press release from TAPOL (The Indonesia Human Rights Campaign) and the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) for details of a protest outside the UK Foreign Office in Whitehall from 12:00 to 2:00 pm on Friday 23 May and for the addresses of who to write to in the British Government re: the UK's arms exports, the Indonesian Government and/or Indonesia's Embassy in London about the war in Aceh and Exxon Mobil (who have operations in the vicinity of the conflict) re: the protection and monitoring of human rights during this conflict - which has already led to the destruction of 150 schools...